Description

Summary: 3 bi-conical shale beads found with a primary male and female (shaman/metalworker?) inhumation in bowl barrow Upton Lovell G2a, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

This object was examined as part of the research published in Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods; a six-year research project carried out by Professor John Hunter and Dr Anne Woodward and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Aided by a large number of other specialists the pair undertood an exhuastive study examining over 1000 objects held in 13 museums across the country in order to provide an extensive overview of burial practices in the period and identify regional practices.

Three Bronze Age jet fusiform beads, found with a primary double inhumation in bowl barrow Upton Lovell G2a, excavated by William Cunnington in 1801. The three beads were probably reused from a larger spacer plate necklace, but appear to have ended up in a composite necklace also incorperating a cylindrical bone bead. When Colt Hoare and Cunnington excavated the mound it had already been disturbed, and it is possible some beads are missing.